


Polyjuiced

by AnnaOnTheMoon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Post-Marauders Era (Harry Potter), firewhisky & honey, polyjuice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29923599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaOnTheMoon/pseuds/AnnaOnTheMoon
Summary: Sirius helps Remus hold onto his job during a full moon.
Relationships: Remus Lupin & Sirius Black, Remus Lupin/Severus Snape, Severus Snape & Sirius Black
Kudos: 21





	Polyjuiced

**Author's Note:**

> Inspiration goes to the lovely FB group Firewhisky and Honey and Diane for posing questions about Remus and polyjuice.

Sirius looked at his best friend, asleep on the bed an hour after moonset. “Moony?” 

No response. 

Sirius gently patted his old friend’s shoulder, then leaned over and plucked several hairs before leaving the bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him. He walked downstairs and into the kitchen where Severus Snape was waiting with a flask full of a murky potion resting on the table. 

“Is that it?” Severus nodded.

“I managed to extend the time limit to four hours. Black, are you _sure_ you can do this?” Sirius shrugged at his once-enemy. 

“It’s a book shop. How hard can it be? Prices are listed on the back covers. It’ll be fine.” Severus eyed the marauder. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Sirius….oh, who was he kidding, he really wasn’t sure he did. But when Remus had announced that he was sure he was going to lose his job after missing too many days, Sirius had approached the potion’s student with his idea. Severus had agreed to work on extending the Polyjuice, especially as it would count towards his mastery of potions. 

“Just be careful. Try to act like Remus. I need to get back to the school.” Sirius waved him towards the steps. 

“Go kiss your boyfriend goodbye.” Severus rolled his eyes, but headed towards the stairs and gently pushed open the door to Remus’ (and his, when he was able to get away) bedroom. 

“Rem? You awake?” Remus stirred and smiled.

“Sev’rus.” Severus moved towards the bed. 

“I’d ask you how you feel ,but.” Remus snorted. 

“Hurts. Work?” Severus nodded. 

“I need to go soon. I have the first years in an hour, but I’ll come back at Lunch. I’ve left a teapot under a warming charm on the dresser and your pain potions on the bedside table.” Remus smiled.

“You take….good care.” Remus winced as he tried to sit up and Severus pushed him back down. 

“Just get some sleep.” Severus leaned over the weaker man and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “I’ll see you at Lunchtime.” 

“Mm. ‘Kay. Love…” Remus was already falling back to sleep.

“I love you too, you daft wolf.” Severus made sure Remus was tucked in before he joined Sirius in the kitchen once more. He watched as Sirius added Remus’ hair to the flask and sniffed the potion, grimacing. 

“Ugh, essence of Moony.” Sirius held out the flask. “Here, you actually _like_ the taste of him.” Severus merely eyed the man.

“You are an idiot. Drink.” 

“Cheers, mate.” Sirius downed half of the flask and Severus quickly took the flask and corked it before Sirius dropped it. Sirius grabbed onto the back of one of the chairs as his skin began to bubble. His body grew in length, but shrank in girth and his hair became a sandy mix of brown and blonde. His eyes changed to the blue of the ocean, and three long scars appeared on his face. He preened. “What do you think?” Sirius moved to open his fly and gave off a low whistle admiring the contents. “No wonder you love him.”

“Don’t be an arse. Remember, you’re doing this so Remus doesn’t lose his job.” Sirius nodded.

“Yep. And you won’t tell him, right? This’ll be our secret…Sni…Snape.” Severus nodded. Sirius reached for Remus’ worn coat and shoved his arms through the sleeves, getting his fingers caught in a hole in the lining. “One of us really ought to buy the man a new coat.”

“I offered. You know how Remus is.” Sirius nodded. Remus wouldn’t let either of his best mates or his boyfriend buy him anything unless it was Christmas or his birthday. Even then, if anyone went over the top he complained. The most Sirius and James had manage to do was to give the man a new pair of dragon hide boots jointly for his birthday and he let Severus get away with buying him a new set of robes. Sirius shoved his feet into the boots and quickly laced them. He shoved his own wand into his sleeve - Remus worked in a muggle bookshop, so there wasn’t any chance of anyone noticing the wand anyway. Severus surveyed the man in front of him. With the exception of the facial expression that was entirely Black, Severus could have been standing in front of his boyfriend. 

“Now then, do you need me to walk you though how to get to the shop again?” Sirius shook his head.

“Bus stop on the corner. Show the driver the card in Moony’s wallet. Get off after 6 stops. I got it.” He puckered his lips at the severe man. “Don’t I get a goodbye kiss?” 

“No.”

“Suit yourself.” Sirius was barely out of the door before Severus was tossing floo powder into the fireplace and calling out his destination – “Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Severus Snape’s quarters”.

###

Severus had trouble concentrating on the classes he was teaching for his master that morning. Fortunately, it was only the first years – two houses in each class – so it was fairly simple. His master had assigned him the first through third years as part of his training, though Severus currently had no plans to go into teaching in the future. 

He and Remus were going to open a potion’s shop/apothecary where Remus would be able to take off as many days as he needed around the full moon. Remus had already added a greenhouse into the back garden of the cottage they lived in so they could grow as much of their ingredients as possible, with plans to sell the excess. Severus had his eye on a shop front in Holyhead, not too far from the cottage in Snowdonia. He only had one more year left and then he would be able to submit his paperwork to the guild to become a certified Potion’s Master. It wasn’t a necessary step towards selling potions, but having the guild seal would enable him to charge slightly more, and people tended to trust potions from a guild member more. 

Severus was happy when the clock struck, signifying the end of the latest lesson. 

“I expect you to leave your workstations clean,” he admonished a first year Hufflepuff who had started to leave without putting anything away. The student sheepishly smiled and looped back to his station. Severus eyed him and tried to remember the boy’s name. He couldn’t, and he decided he really _didn’t_ want to supervise detention that night, anyway. The classroom was soon empty and after scooping up the latest batch of essays to grade, he swopped out of the potion’s classroom and made his way to the small set of quarters assigned for him. He dropped the essays on the desk and flooed back to the cottage, just in time to see Remus coming down the stairs. 

“Rem, you should be in bed.” 

“I’m fine, Sev. I thought I might try to work a half day.” Severus hid his panic. 

“I don’t think that’s necessary, Rem. They might be suspicious if you show up after claiming to be ill.” Severus crossed his fingers behind his back. He hadn’t called the shop to tell them Remus was ill since Sirius was filling in for him, but he also wanted Remus in bed in case Sirius came home early. He wrapped his arm around Remus’ shoulder. “Come on. I’ll bring you lunch in bed.”

###

Sirius soon learned that working in a book shop was a lot harder than he thought. Customers kept asking him where things were and then he would go hide in the back after giving them wrong instructions. He had tried carrying on a conversation with one of Remus’ work colleagues, but soon had to end the conversation as he realised he didn’t know what the other was talking about. He had dodged a few comments by claiming he had a headache and then being handed two white pills by one of the girls. He hadn’t known what to do with the pills, so he just thanked her and shoved them in his pocket.

Over his lunch break, he carefully sipped at the flask of Polyjuice to ensure he remained Remus until the end of the day. He hoped Remus would appreciate what he had done for him, but then he also didn’t actually want Remus to find out because he knew how Remus would react to him helping him. He sighed and looked at the clock. Four more hours to go.

###

“Black, you look exhausted.” Sirius accepted the cup of tea Severus held out for him before Severus went back to preparing the tea tray for Remus. 

Sirius put his tea on the coffee table before flopping onto the sofa. “It was exhausting. How does Remus do it all day?” 

“He really likes books.” Sirius snorted.

“Yeah. Soon you two are going to run out of room in the house for all of the books.” 

“That’s what annexes are for. Besides, all of my potions books will be in the back of the shop in the lab eventually.” Severus picked up the tray and eyed the flopped man. “You might want to change out of Remus’ clothing just in case he comes down.” 

“Mm, good idea. I hope he’s up to going to work tomorrow. You staying the night?” Severus nodded. “Good. I’ll go back to my flat. See you later.”

###

The next day at work, Remus was surprised when one of the girls he regulary worked with gently brushed her hand over his forehead. “Are you feeling better?” 

“Yes, thanks. Sorry about yesterday.” A hand waved off the apology. 

“Don’t worry about it. But next time I hand you some paracetamol, it helps to actually take it.” Remus looked at his friend with a puzzled look on his face, which became even more puzzled when he shoved his hand in his pocket and revealed two white muggle pain relief tablets.


End file.
